Boston Globe 3/25/10: Builders, responding to changing demand, shrink size of new homes. An apparent shift in the popularity of oversized homes in favor of more modest, lower-cost designs is emerging amid signs of a local uptick in new construction that is mirroring national trends, according to builders and area officials. While housing starts and building permits are up modestly across the country this year after a dismal 2009, the average size of new homes has been shrinking. By the end of last year, the average home size had dropped to 2,373 square feet, from a peak of 2,507 square feet in 2007, the US Census Bureau reports. And local builders are responding, shrinking floor plans, eliminating formal living rooms and making other changes to slash square footage and bring down the cost of new homes. In Wayland, two new developments feature “green homes’’ of 3,000 to 3,500 square feet, with energy-efficient features and surrounded by conservation land. That’s a dramatic departure from the boom years, when some new homes were reaching 7,000 square feet, said Sarkis Sarkisian, Wayland’s town planner.